Wegmans SERVEs food to area pantry

A Manassas food bank received a big boost this week when 14,400 pounds of much-needed food items were dropped off at its pantry.

Securing Emergency Resources through Volunteer Efforts Inc. were the happy recipients of a tractor-trailer load of food, including canned soups, vegetables, baking mixes, granola bars and cookies from Wegmans Food Markets Inc.

Employees from Wegmans' soon-to-open new store in Gainesville were on hand to help unload the truck and stack the items in the Food Distribution Center. The truck was filled with 20 pallets of produce valued at about $26,000.

Mike Dempsey, store manager of the Gainesville Wegmans, said, "It's been our company's long standing tradition to donate food to the local food bank a couple of weeks before we open a new store in a community. Our new store doesn't open until November 2nd, but the food bank was in need of food now, so we moved quickly to make this happen."

Dempsey said the summer months are particularly challenging for SERVE and other food banks because many children who have access to free or reduced-costs meals at school are home for the summer, increasing the demand on food banks. The economic downturn has also resulted in greater demand on food banks across the country.

"Making a difference in the community is one of our most important values," Dempsey said. "It's especially gratifying to help when the need is so evident."

The food items, mostly overstocked or slightly damaged packages came from Wegmans' warehouse in Rochester, N.Y., sent there from the company's 72 stores.

Food items included assorted vegetables, 3,864 pounds; cookies, 1,952; granola bars, 1,527; crackers, 1,500; condiments, 945; baking mixes and ingredients, 901; salad fixing, 875; soup, 864; Jell-O and pudding cups, 570; and assorted canned items, 1,431.

Mary Jo Dick, coordinator of the food center, said, "The numbers of people needing assistance with food have increased 35 percent over the last six months. Coupled with back-to-school stress on family budgets, this generous donation could not have come at a better time. We are excited to have Wegmans coming to our community and are looking forward to a good relationship with them."

The center will continue to receive donations from Wegmans, which opened its first Prince William County store in Woodbridge on June 8.

SERVE, at 10056 Dean Drive, provides temporary emergency shelter for 60 homeless individuals each night, operates transitional housing units in Manassas and provides emergency food and financial assistance to needy residents.

In the past year, SERVE's food center provided more than $1.2 million worth of donated food to an average of 700 households monthly. The organization, founded in 1975, is dedicated towards fighting hunger and homelessness in the Manassas area.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.